The New Nation - Internet Edition

AFP, Washington

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice left Sunday for the Middle East in a new bid to broker an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal by January 2009 despite mounting odds.

In her seventh visit to the region since the Annapolis peace process was launched in November last year, Rice will arrive in Israel on Monday for talks with top Israeli and Palestinian negotiators.

Rice's spokesman Sean McCormack said Rice's talks would include senior Israeli and Palestinian officials and would cover "ongoing efforts to create positive and lasting peace in the region and progress towards the shared goal of a peace agreement in 2008."

Senior Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat told AFP on August 17 that Rice will meet with Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, then hold three-way talks with Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and senior Palestinian diplomat Ahmed Qorei.

The two sides formally relaunched the peace process after a seven-year hiatus at a US conference in November, with the goal of signing a full peace deal by the time President George W. Bush leaves office in January 2009.

The talks have made little visible progress since then, with both sides remaining deeply divided on core issues like the status of Jerusalem, the fate of Palestinian refugees, and final borders.

Israel was, however, preparing to free 199 Palestinian prisoners early Monday, ahead of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert approved the latest prisoner release as a goodwill gesture to Abbas in the context of US-backed peace talks.

Rice was last in Israel in mid-June, when she strongly criticized the expansion of Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank, saying they undermined the peace process.

She has already visited the region 17 times in the past two years.